Pandora Hearts

Oz Vessalius—a vibrant young boy who’s heir of the Vessalius dukedom. During his coming of age ceremony, he’s attacked and sent to the Abyss—a rumoured prison for those who have committed heinous crimes. Lost in a twisted wonderland, Oz meets a girl called Alice, and makes a contract with her in order to escape.

Pandora Hearts（パンドラ ハーツ Ｐａｎｄｏｒａ Ｈｅａｒｔｓ） is a japanese dark-fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Jun Mochizuki. It was adapted into an anime TV series.

Summary: Oz Vessalius is the heir of one of the four dukedoms: Vessalius, Nightray, Rainsworth and Barma. Oz, his little sister and the family servant, Gilbert, have fun at the mansion where they arrived earlier, the place where Oz’s coming-of-age ceremony is going to be held. As the youth prepares to continue with the mansion’s investigation, Oscar, Oz’s uncle warns Oz he better not to mess up the party or he would call out the Emissary of the “Abyss”, an emissary that will snatch those who committed heinous crimes and take them to a terrifying place where they are said to never come back from. Oz chuckles and replies that those threats no longer work on him.

Outside, the group finds a hidden garden and a grave, but the name is too faded to read. On the cross a clock is hung. As Oz reaches the clock, a mysterious feeling invades him and in a blink of an eye he finds himself in a room filled with creepy dolls that welcome his arrival and a young girl appears also welcoming his return. However, when Oz, confused, asks her who is she, the girl wickedly says “I’m you” and tries to kill him. Oz returns to himself and calms Gilbert and his little sister worries over the momentary lack of consciousness.

At this point of the coming-of-age ceremony, Oz sighs with relief with its imminent end. But as he swears an oath at the silent clock tower, the clock moves. Oz attack by a mysterious group in black cloaks, who also controlled Gilbert, who grabs Oz while the Baskerville make a kind of ritual. However they are repelled by him and the mysterious girl from Oz’s dream appears and transforms into Bloody Black Rabbit, or B-Rabbit, claiming that Oz is her key and that she will fight them. She is begoned by one of the group members and Oz consciousness too is engulfed in darkness.

Lost in the “Abyss” he is helped by Alice but when Oz thanks her for saving him again, Alice gives him a puzzled look since she says it’s the first time they meet. As they chat, Alice confesses Oz that her wish is to get out of the “Abyss” and persuades Oz to make a “contract” with her that will enable her power enough to be capable of making an exit in the “way”, a distortion between the two worlds. Eventually, Oz makes the contract and Alice takes control of his body and fulfills her words.

Oz wakes up at a strange bedroom and discovers later that he is at Pandora’s headquarters, an organisation formed by the 4 dukedoms that focus in research concerning the Abyss, where he encounters Sharon Rainsworth and Xerxes Break from the Rainsworth dukedom and Raven from Nightray. After Xerxes having expelled Alice from Oz’s body and learning about her wish of recover her memories, the group invites them to join.

Now members, Oz and Alice, along with the others, depart in search of memories and answers lurking in the darkness.

Note: The series features heavy references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

Rainsworth Dukedom

Manga

Volume 1

Summary

Oz Vessalius—a vibrant young boy who’s heir of the Vessalius dukedom. During his coming of age ceremony, he’s attacked and sent to the Abyss—a rumoured prison for those who have committed heinous crimes. Lost in a twisted wonderland, Oz meets a girl called Alice, and makes a contract with her in order to escape.

Volume 2

Summary

Volume 3

Summary

Volume 4

Summary

Volume 5

Summary

Japanese covers

Anime

Episode List

#

Title

Original air date

1

Innocent Calm

April 2, 2009

2

Tempest of Conviction

April 9, 2009

3

Prisoner & Alichino

April 16, 2009

4

Rendezvous

April 23, 2009

5

Clockwise Doom

April 30, 2009

6

Where am I?

May 7, 2009

7

Whisperer

May 14, 2009

8

Question

May 21, 2009

9

Malediction

May 28, 2009

10

Grim

June 4, 2009

11

A Lost Raven

June 11, 2009

12

Welcome to Labyrinth

June 18, 2009

13

Keeper of the Secret

June 25, 2009

14

Hollow Eye Socket

July 2, 2009

15

Who Killed Poor Alice?

July 9, 2009

16

His Name is…

July 16, 2009

17

Hello My Sister!

July 23, 2009

18

Eliot & Leo

July 30, 2009

19

The Pool of Tears

August 6, 2009

20

Modulation

August 13, 2009

21

Snow White Chaos

August 27, 2009

22

Countervalue of Loss

September 3, 2009

23

A Warp in the World

September 10, 2009

24

Kyrie

September 17, 2009

25

Beyond the Winding Road

September 24, 2009

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If you are a fan of Lewis Carrol’s pieces you will probably like Pandora Hearts. I would like to praise the mangaka (heart), because I think she has achieved a plot that contains Lewil Carrol’s inspiration but stays independent, which I dare to say, excluding the conception of the manga, it’s already a difficult thing to do. One of the things that I also liked a lot was the drawing, and I was completely amazed with the beauty of the illustrations.

Reasons to read it:

it has a unique setting, historical + psychological + fantasy + action that has consistence.